Abducted woman held for Rs50 million ransom rescued

Police killed two alleged proclaimed offenders during a joint operation and rescued a woman who had been abducted for a Rs50 million ransom on Friday.

The operation, carried out by the Crime Control Department (CCD) in cooperation with Haripur police, targeted suspects accused of involvement in kidnapping for ransom, terrorism, armed robbery, targeted killings, sexual assault and extortion.

The police said the raid took place in the Dhenda Bypass area within the jurisdiction of Khalabat police station, Haripur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. According to police, the main accused, identified as Zarghamullah, and his father, Khalid Mehmood Khan, allegedly opened fire on security personnel when the police team attempted to arrest them.

The police said the exchange of gunfire lasted for more than two hours. They said that the suspects used members of their own family as human shields during the confrontation, but officers safely evacuated the family before continuing the operation. After the shooting, thepolice recovered the bodies of Zarghamullah and Khan.

Several other alleged accomplices escaped during the exchange of fire, and a search operation has been launched to trace them.